Some Unique Things

Last week I posted a comment that I do not like seeing jeans worn in an office environment.  Well, that got me thinking that I must be strange in some of my preferences and foibles.  So I thought I would take a couple minutes talking about five of them in particular.

1. I do not read novels: I guess this much different than the pastor of the church I attend, whose spouse says he does not read books, period. (Perhaps a benefit of being single is not having another individual talking about all your habits without consultation, but that's a matter of debate for a different time :)).  However, I do like reading and listening to nonfiction books, particularly regarding Christianity, economics, public policy, American wars and biographies of political figures.    For example, other than the Scriptures, the last three books I've read or listened to are The Road to Serfdom, Basic Economics, 1776 and currently The Age of Turbulence (a memoir by Alan Greenspan).   Something about not having to be imaginatively creative draws me to those pieces of literature and away from fiction.  As you know, I'm an it is what it is type of guy.

2. I don't watch broadcast TV or movies: Think of me, a man who worked at Best Buy, the dominate consumer electronics retailer in the world, doesn't like watching broadcast TV or movies.  Two reasons for this.  One, I think much on what is on TV or in the movies today are very low quality in both cinematic and moral value these days.  Most material try to attract the carnal emotions of individuals and is not very deep material in any sense of the word.  The second reason is that I have a really, really short attention span when it comes to cinema.  Generally I can watch a movie perhaps 15 minutes before losing attention and wanting to do something else.  Perhaps that's why I'm quite anti-social, who knows.  Strangely enough, I can pay attention to a sporting event for a much longer time period.  A matter of interest I guess.

3. I don't know what number date it is: Unless I have to look it up, I really don't know what number date it is.  I know today is Thursday, but I don't know if it's June 22 or June 29 today unless I look it up in my phone.  Multiple occasions have happened where I missed an appointment due to this.  But thank goodness for smartphones with calendars because now I just set alarms in my phone that allows me to keep my appointments.

4. I apparently have a unique view on farding:  Farding is the act of applying makeup to the face.  I find this act unnecessary.  In my myopic view, you are who you are, why distort it?  Unless there is a health benefit to farding that I don't know about, I simply think it's a waste of resources, time and money.  

5. My laugh is apparently has supporters and detractors:  I have been told that my laugh, which I haven't heard myself, has supporters and detractors.  My mother hates my laugh and says it drives her crazy.  Others like it.  More than one find it either 'fake sounding' or 'annoying.'  I'll just say that it's all natural and I don't see how I could change it if I wanted to.  I am sorry, however, that it drives my mom crazy though.

So these are just five things that are unique about me.  You are free to list others, I hope you are courteous if you do so.

Calvin Coolidge Quote of the Week

This week's quote stems from an address President Coolidge provided to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on January 17, 1925.  Coolidge was speaking on the subject of propaganda.

Of education and real information we cannot get too much.  But of propaganda, which is tainted and perverted information, we cannot have too little.

When one thinks about recent 'causes' that have swept across Minnesota and the nation (especially recent SCOTUS rulings), how can one say this statement doesn't have any merit?

Short Takes

A few short thoughts:

- I've worked about two and a half months at my new job and I have say that while the transition has been going alright, there's one thing that drives me batty: the dress code.  Every day at work I see someone wear denim or now days a pair of shorts, which I really find off-putting.  It's perhaps myopic, but wearing denim doing office work to me states that you're not taking you're job seriously enough.  It's something that I just don't see myself doing anytime soon.  However, whenever I see VPs wearing polo shirts and jeans, I'm simply driven batty.

- My work has picked up a bit lately.   Business Intelligence reporting faces high demands at my work.  The one thing that I like about my work is that it drives change.  The think that I don't like about my work is sometimes that change affects employees quite negatively.  I recall at my last job certain analyses I would do would be a catalyst to cut hundreds of jobs that were sometimes on the pages of the local newspaper.  I get no joy out of being a catalyst for that sort of result.  But I have to see it as a means to a better end that's I'm striving to inform leadership regarding different areas of the company.  I still enjoy my time here though, I learning quite a bit and I can't say that's a bad thing.

- Finally, I have to say we've been having severe weather in the Twin Cities recently.  A photo to show how severe.

Our Fearless Leader during the storm

I went out visiting families in NE Minneapolis Saturday and saw a whole lot of tree carnage.

Pray for better weather and a prompt recovery.

Calvin Coolidge Quote of the Week

This week's Quote of the Week is from President Coolidge's autobiography, written in 1929, regarding humility and the Presidency:

It is a great advantage to the President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.

Humility of world leaders or leaders in general?  Do we really see that trait these days?

Ode to My Father

With Father's Day coming up, I hope everyone takes the opportunity to appreciate the good fathers who do what they can to support their families.  Appreciate them for filling their role in society.

My father, George Wong, died in 2010.  I've always been quite appreciative of his life.  The long hours in the restaurants growing up to support his family; teaching values of hard work and commitment are things that I hold dear every day of my life.  But I have to say he led quite the interesting life.

My dad was born in 1936 In Canton, China in the throes of the Japanese invasion prior to World War II.  The first years of my father’s life were simply one word: survival.  He grew up on a sugarcane-farming village.  His house had a weak bamboo roof that leaked consistently during rainstorms, where the humility left him with arthritic legs that would affect him the rest of his life.  His mother passed away from stomach cancer when he was a young boy.  

The Japanese invasion only made his life even more difficult.  To hide from the occupying forces, my dad and most of his family hid in a large sod hole (a la Saddam Hussein) for long periods of time.  I've seen the hole personally; it didn't look too comfortable of a living space.   However, one story about the Japanese invasion regarding my father is unforgettable.  The Japanese military found my great grandmother out in the open while my father was in hiding.  They asked my great grandmother where my father and his family were.  She refused to answer, so the Japanese killed her on the spot.  You can only imagine how my father felt about Japanese folks for the rest of his life.

My father was able to escape the poor conditions of China and come to America in 1946 on the USS Americana.  He was able to come based on his family connections in LA.  His first job in America was working in his uncle's restaurant, the Golden Inn. 

His time growing up was about labor, honor and commitment.  He never graduated high school.  He earned a GED, served 4 years in the Air Force and worked much of the rest of his life in the food business (restaurants and grocery stores) while finding a wife and supporting a family.  His success in business and in life is the epitome of the American Dream in my myopic opinion.

His commitment to work and family are unpatrolled in my myopic opinion.  Despite multiple health problems for the last third of his life, it didn’t stop him from working and fulfilling his commitment.  I found it interesting that the last restaurant he opened was also called the Golden Inn, which is still open today.

To say that’s proud to be my father’s son would be an understatement.  I am humbled that I knew him most of my life.  While I’m sorry to know that he wasn’t fully content at the end of his life on earth, I trust that it was in the Almighty’s will the he be taken care of in the Eternal Kingdom at that time.   Perhaps if the Almighty sees it be so, I’ll one day lie by my father on earth as well as stand with him in the Eternal Kingdom.

So I’ll just suggest that you say “Thanks” to your fathers if you have an opportunity, they are special folks indeed.

Calvin Coolidge Quote of the Week

This week's quote ia from a newspaper column Coolidge wrote on June 20, 1931 regarding the centralization of power in Washington, even 80 plus years ago.

The centralization of power in Washington, which nearly all members of Congress deplore in their speech and then support by their votes, steadily increases

Pithy and wise man, that President Coolidge, don't you think?

Calvin Coolidge Quote of the Week

This week's quote is from Coolidge's Commencement address to Amherst College while governor of Massachusetts on June 18, 1919.  Coolidge discussed about the use of knowledge.

Civilization depends not only upon the knowledge of the people, but upon the use they make of it.  If knowledge is wrongfully used, civilization commits suicide.

Thinking of the rationale of many of issues the civilization faces these days, don't many of them stem from the wrong use of 'knowledge?'

Head Slapper of the Week

 It's the kicker!  Three Head Slaps